Come hang out with the folks at Boomtown BBQ

At the curve of Old Calder before it empties onto Phelan Boulevard, turn in at the antique Plymouth truck at 5555 Calder, and then follow the smell of smoked meats to a casual eatery with a tin-covered ceiling, order bar and self-serve seating inside or on an expansive enclosed front porch.

You’re now ready for the Smoked Meat Explosion, Boomtown’s sampler. Like all menu items, this pound of meat combining brisket, pork loin, turkey and sausage is served on butcher paper making serving, clean up and take out quick and easy. Dip your brisket in one of Boomtown’s four specialty homemade sauces, including Queso Blanco or Chipotle Mayo. Pork loin and turkey taste tangier doused in Orange Jalapeno Mustard or Salsa Verde.

“We serve on butcher paper instead of plates because it’s quick and easy for everyone,” said Emily Swanson, co-owner with her husband, Chris. “We smoke everything but our sausage here on our pits, weigh the meat and charge by the quarter pound. People can either eat it in or we can quickly wrap it up and they can take out.”

Wanna really spice things up? Just grab the hard liquor bottle from the center of your table and smother your pork spare ribs, sold by the half and whole rack, in Boomtown’s Carolina-style barbeque sauce. It’s a little bit tangy with a hint of sweet and dispensed in Jim Beam, Jack Daniel’s and McCormick Vodka bottles, imported from the Ship’s Wheel in Crystal Beach. Go ahead, sop up what’s left with your bread and then lick your fingers. But a roll of paper towels is available on every table.Buy meat platters by the quarter pound with sides like pinto beans, coleslaw, potato salad or Boomtown’s version of french fries, cheesy potatoes, which are potatoes diced, seasoned, fried and covered in melted cheese. Why eat a plain ole french fry when you can have cheesy potatoes? Just doesn’t make sense.

But if you want to experience the Tex Mex twist concept to barbeque, order one of Boomtown’s Taco Bombs or BBQ Nachos. Your mouth will explode with the combination of flavors served in this barbeque taco — a flour tortilla stuffed with pulled pork, cheesy potatoes, onions, jalapenos and barbeque sauce.

This barbeque burrito of sorts is truly “the bomb,” but the nachos are charged with mouth-watering flavors, too. Try the stack of tortilla chips covered with pulled pork, queso blanco, jalapenos and onions.

Weekly specials at this fun, family-friendly eatery include a sandwich night on Mondays when all meat sandwiches are $5. Tuesday night is rib night — half racks are $7 and full is $14; Wednesday night, get a Potato Boomer for $5, and every day quash your hunger for fiery flavors with Boomtown’s Torpedo – a sausage link wrapped in a tortilla and covered in orange jalapeno mustard sauce for only $3.

Kids are catered to at Boomtown. Young’uns can fill up on a meat, chips and a drink for only $4.50 and then charge the enclosed side porch, just perfect for expending energy but in eyesight of adults.

Cleanse your palette with a variety of non-alcoholic beverages or throw back beer, wine or a frozen margarita and then launch the grand finale by ordering the cobbler of the day (peach, blackberry, cherry or apple), a la carte or a la mode with a cup of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla.

On weekends, savor the flavors while you sway to the beat of local favorites who play live music including Thomas Cokinos, David Lee Kaiser, Spencer Marks and Jerry Mullins.

“It feels like family,” said Chris. “We just want people to come and hang out with us here.”

While we harbor no disrespect for the Wall Street Journal who called us “that scrappy little paper from Southeast Texas,” we prefer to think of ourselves as simple seekers of the truth. We’re of the opinion that headlines and sound bites never tell the whole story. Our readers demand all the facts, facets and flavors of every story or event. And, they expect to be informed, educated and stirred to action.